會長大的活的開端
這三個意思都直接是核心畫面：一個微小、有生命、注定要擴張的起點。差別只在它長成的是植物、是想法，還是一場病。
seed/embryo (biology) · noun · C1
The part of a plant or animal that can grow into a new plant or animal.
胚芽
核心畫面
A good way to hold it: the tiny living that a whole big thing grows out of. It is almost nothing to look at — a seed's inner kernel, a single cell — but everything that comes later is already folded up inside it. The word points at the starting point of growth, not at the grown thing.
一顆小到幾乎看不見的活東西，而整個龐大的後續都是從它長出來的。它本身不起眼——穀粒裡那一小塊胚、一個細胞、一點點活的…更多收起
一顆小到幾乎看不見的活東西，而整個龐大的後續都是從它長出來的。它本身不起眼——穀粒裡那一小塊胚、一個細胞、一點點活的組織——可是未來的形狀已經摺疊在裡面了。這個字指的永遠是「長大之前的那個起點」，不是長大之後的成品。所以無論後面接的是一株植物、一個念頭，還是一場病，重點都在那個微小但有生命、會擴張的開端。From the word’s history
English borrowed it through French from Latin germen, meaning bud, sprout, or seed — the sprouting part of a plant. That original sense of a small sprouting beginning is still doing the work in every modern use, including the microbe: a germ is what starts to grow in you.
這個字經法語 germe 來自拉丁文 germen，原意是「芽、苗、種子」——植物身上會抽出新生命的那一小塊。這個「會發芽的小開端」的意思到現在還在每個用法底下運作著：胚芽是植物的開端，念頭的萌芽是想法的開端，連病菌也是照這個邏輯命名的——它是在你身體裡開始生長的那個東西。
Wiktionary (germ): From Middle French germe, from Latin germen ("bud, seed, embryo")
One branch
原始詞典資料8 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
Germnoun
- 1
derogatoryslanga German person.
germnoun/d͡ʒɜːm/
- 1
biologynatural-sciencesThe small mass of cells from which a new organism develops; a seed, bud, spore, or zygote.
- 2
biologynatural-sciencesThe small mass of cells from which a new organism develops; a seed, bud, spore, or zygote.
- surgical removal of germs of wisdom teeth
- 3
A pathogen: a pathogenic microorganism, such as a bacterium or virus.
- 'This again,' said the Bacteriologist, slipping a glass slide under the microscope, 'is a preparation of the celebrated Bacillus of cholera - the cholera germ.'
- 4
The origin or earliest version of an idea or project.
- the germ of civil liberty
- Now all his ponderings, however excursive, wheeled round Isabel as their center; and back to her they came again from every excursion; and again derived some new, small germs for wonderment.
- 5
mathematicssciencesAn equivalence class that includes a specified function defined in an open neighborhood.
germverb/d͡ʒɜːm/
- 1
To germinate.
- Thus tempted, the lust to avenge me / Germed inly and grew.
- 2
slangTo grow, as if parasitic.
- I’m addicted, want to germ inside your love
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。